Imaging pulsar census of the Galactic Plane using MWA VCS data

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sett, S., Sokolowski, M., Lenc, E., Bhat, N. D. R.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866913580848250880
author Sett, S.
Sokolowski, M.
Lenc, E.
Bhat, N. D. R.
author_facet Sett, S.
Sokolowski, M.
Lenc, E.
Bhat, N. D. R.
contents Traditional pulsar surveys have primarily employed time-domain periodicity searches. However, these methods are susceptible to effects like scattering, eclipses and orbital motion. At lower radio frequencies (<= 300 MHz), factors such as dispersion measure and pulse broadening become more prominent, reducing the detection sensitivity. On the other hand, image domain searches for pulsars are not limited by these effects and can extend the parameter space to regions inaccessible to traditional search techniques. Therefore, we have developed a pipeline to form 1-second full Stokes images from offline correlated high time-resolution data from the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). This led to the development of image-based methodologies to identify new pulsar candidates. In this paper, we applied these methodologies to perform a low-frequency image-based pulsar census of the Galactic Plane ( 12 MWA observations, covering ~6000 deg^2 sky ). This work focuses on the detection of the known pulsar population which were present in the observed region of the sky using both image-based and beamformed methods. This resulted in the detection of 83 known pulsars, with 16 pulsars found only in Stokes I images but not in periodicity searches applied in beamformed data. Notably, for 14 pulsars these are the first reported low-frequency detections. This underscores the importance of image-based searches for pulsars that may be undetectable in time-series data, due to scattering and/or dispersive smearing at low frequencies. This highlights the importance of low-frequency flux density measurements in refining pulsar spectral models and investigating the spectral turnover of pulsars at low frequencies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_13282
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Imaging pulsar census of the Galactic Plane using MWA VCS data
Sett, S.
Sokolowski, M.
Lenc, E.
Bhat, N. D. R.
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Traditional pulsar surveys have primarily employed time-domain periodicity searches. However, these methods are susceptible to effects like scattering, eclipses and orbital motion. At lower radio frequencies (<= 300 MHz), factors such as dispersion measure and pulse broadening become more prominent, reducing the detection sensitivity. On the other hand, image domain searches for pulsars are not limited by these effects and can extend the parameter space to regions inaccessible to traditional search techniques. Therefore, we have developed a pipeline to form 1-second full Stokes images from offline correlated high time-resolution data from the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). This led to the development of image-based methodologies to identify new pulsar candidates. In this paper, we applied these methodologies to perform a low-frequency image-based pulsar census of the Galactic Plane ( 12 MWA observations, covering ~6000 deg^2 sky ). This work focuses on the detection of the known pulsar population which were present in the observed region of the sky using both image-based and beamformed methods. This resulted in the detection of 83 known pulsars, with 16 pulsars found only in Stokes I images but not in periodicity searches applied in beamformed data. Notably, for 14 pulsars these are the first reported low-frequency detections. This underscores the importance of image-based searches for pulsars that may be undetectable in time-series data, due to scattering and/or dispersive smearing at low frequencies. This highlights the importance of low-frequency flux density measurements in refining pulsar spectral models and investigating the spectral turnover of pulsars at low frequencies.
title Imaging pulsar census of the Galactic Plane using MWA VCS data
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.13282